Broadway Limited recap
Main: Broadway Limited This recap of "Broadway Limited" features a detailed section on each scene of the episode. Simon is wheeled into the hospital by a pair of orderlies. His abdomen gapes open following the large shotgun wound he sustained as a victim of the Hammonton hijacking. A doctor and a nurse walk alongside the stretcher. Sherriff Eli Thompson is waiting in the corridor with a group of deputies as Simon is pushed past. Atlantic County Treasurer Nucky Thompson and Jimmy Darmody arrive behind Simon; Eli goes to greet them. Nucky asks how Simon survived three days in the cold of the woods and Eli guesses that Simon’s obesity protected him, immediately undermining his assumption by stating that he is not a doctor. Nucky is annoyed at Eli for stating the obvious and turns his glare on Jimmy, the architect of the hijacking. Jimmy tells Nucky he thought all of the men they hijacked were dead. Nucky criticises Jimmy for thinking, comparing him to the philosopher Aristotle. Nucky asks what the doctors are doing to Simon. Eli says that with Simon’s wounds the doctor’s interventions will be pointless. Nucky asks if Eli is now a doctor. Eli asks why Nucky is mad at him. Nucky ignores the question, checking his watch. He says he is running late and tells Eli to let Simon die naturally or to hasten his death if able. Nucky warns Jimmy to hope that Simon dies before he can reveal Jimmy’s involvement in the hijacking. A cart driver steers his hearse into a livery. Inside, he is greeted by Nucky and African American bootlegger Chalky White. Chalky notes the driver’s tardiness and he says that his horse is not exactly Man’O War (a race horse). Nucky jokingly asks the horse if it has run at Saratoga. Chalky has his man open the hearse up – it is filled with crates of Canadian Club Whisky. Chalky instructs his team to unload the hearse warning them that he will be doing a bottle count and will take a drop of blood from them for every drop of whisky missing. Nucky jokes that Chalky is like Simon Legree (a cruel slave dealer character from the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe). Chalky mishears him and says he does not care if his team agree or not. Nucky pauses and asks Chalky what he thinks of the delivery. Chalky estimates that he can water the whisky down and turn 500 bottles into 3000. Chalky asks how they will split the income from selling the whisky and Nucky offers a 20% share to Chalky for repackaging it. Chalky is disappointed at the low percentage and Nucky reassures him that it is the same percentage he gave to Mickey Kuzik. Chalky notes that Mickey has changed his name to Doyle, calling Mickey “motherfucker.” Chalky offers 40% and tells Nucky that he skipped 30% because Nucky thought he would accept the same deal as Mickey. Nucky calls Chalky sensitive and counters with 35%. Chalky agrees and they shake on the deal. Chalky oversees the unloading while Nucky whispers to his assistant Eddie Kessler, asking if Eddie knows what motherfucker means; Eddie guesses it is a “schwarze” (German, meaning black) word. Margaret Schroeder serves fried eggs to her neighbour, Edith Mauer, and her children, Teddy and Emily. Edith asks why Margaret is not eating and tells her she needs her strength back. Margaret says she is stronger than she looks and Edith concedes that Margaret would have to be to get through her recent experiences. Margaret mentions that she is considering renting out a room, Edith worries that she would end up with a burlesque performer as a tenant. Edith suggests that Margaret and the children could move into her house but Margaret says she couldn’t. Edith asks about the possibility of Margaret going home to live with family and Margaret says she came to America for a better life. Emily asks Margaret when her baby will be born; Margaret lost the child recently. Margaret smiles sadly and tells Emily that the stork must have gotten lost. Edith promises to make a brisket for the family. There is a knock at the door and Edith answers. Alderman Jim Neary mistakes Edith for Margaret and is corrected. He gives Margaret an address on a piece of paper and tells her that Nucky has found her a job. He offers his condolences for Margaret’s husband and leaves. Margaret reads out the address: La Belle Femme at the Ritz Carlton Hotel. Edith asks what it is and Margaret recognises that it is French and correctly surmises that it is a shop. Edith asks how Margaret knows Nucky and Margaret explains that it is through the Women’s Temperance League. She asks Edith to care for the children while she is at work. Edith nods and comments that she has read about the French. Eli watches as Dr Brubaker treats Simon. He asks the doctor to let him question Simon in private. Deputy Halloran guards the door and Eli pulls a screen between Simon and the next bed, telling the neighbouring patient to go to sleep. Eli takes Simon’s pillow and presses it forcefully over his face. Simon moans and struggles weakly; the other patient is startled by the sounds. Eli fakes questioning Simon while suffocating him but is interrupted by the arrival of Prohibition Agents Nelson Van Alden and Eric Sebso. Eli pretends he was making Simon comfortable. Van Alden flashes his badge and tries to question Simon. Eli claims Simon needs rest and refuses to let him be interviewed while in his custody. Van Alden claims that because Simon has been taken across the Pennsylvania border for treatment the case is now federal. Eli refuses to back down and Halloran shoos the agents away. Sebso accuses Eli of obstructing a federal investigation and Eli tells them to get a warrant. Van Alden asks Sebso to guard the witness and leaves. Charlie Luciano is in a different kind of agony as Dr Cuomo, a urologist, uses a metal scope to inspect his urethra for signs of gonorrhoea. The urologist removes the scope but replaces it with an attachment for a syringe and injects Zinc Sulphate into Luciano’s penis. Luciano tells the urologist that if he knew what the cure involved he would not have contracted Gonorrhoea as a way to avoid military service. The urologist tells Luciano that the treatments have worked. He asks about symptoms and Luciano denies any at first but then, as he is getting dressed, mentions impotence. Luciano flies into a rage when he realises the doctor is keeping notes and threatens him with a syringe before storming out. On the phone in his suite, Nucky agrees to make a donation of $1000 to the premature baby hospital on the boardwalk. Eddie goes to remove a tray from the bedroom and Nucky chastises Eddie for taking it before he said he was finished. Lucy confesses that she finds the premature baby hospital spooky and then mentions that Broadway impresario Flo Ziegfeld is in Atlantic City casting for a production. Nucky says he thought Lucy was finished with dancing. She asks if that is what he wants and he tells her to do whatever makes her happy. She says Nucky makes her happy and offers to have a baby for him. He is shocked and she asks if he thinks she would be a bad mother. He says she has a loving disposition but he is worried that it is not the right time. He asks if they can revisit the issue after the election and she agrees. She spills cream onto her breasts and licks it off, calling it delicious before undoing Nucky’s dressing gown and telling him he looks delicious too. Jimmy looks through an album of photographs taken while he was fighting in World War I. His son Tommy is posing in a chair in the photos. As Angela sweeps the floor Jimmy wonders how she got Tommy to sit for the photographer. She says the photographer amused Tommy and thought he was a good looking child; Jimmy dismisses the compliment as sales patter. Jimmy watches Tommy playing in the next room. He turns to photographs of Angela with Tommy as an infant. He wonders how Tommy was ever so small and Angela says that Jimmy was away for a long time. Jimmy asks why she is not using the vacuum cleaner he bought and she complains about the noise and the way it scares Tommy. Thinking of inventions, Jimmy brings up a machine gun he used in the war (a Lewis gun, although this is a production error, as the US Army never used them. ), Angela is dismayed and says they used to talk about books. Isabelle Jeunet explains Margaret’s responsibilities in La Belle Femme dress shop. Margaret is taken aback when Jeunet asks how often she bathes. Jeunet instructs Margaret to bathe weekly and wash her hair and fingernails daily because she will be modelling the clothes for customers. Jeunet asks about Margaret’s experience and finding that Margaret has none complains that Nucky made her sack her last dresser, Rosalie, to give Margaret the job. Jeunet warns Margaret about working extended hours and criticises her for not speaking French. She ends by saying Margaret is to be seen and not heard. Customers enter and Jeunet dispatches Margaret to get changed while she greets them. Margaret checks that she does not smell and then tries on a dress, smiling at her reflection. Nucky entertains guests in his suite at the Ritz Carlton. Eddie Cantor sings while Lucy and friends dance. Aldermen Jim Neary, George O'Neill and Damien Fleming are also there. Eli arrives and Nucky takes him aside. Eli explains that Van Alden has Simon under guard, preventing him from doing anything to hasten Simon’s death. Eli is excited when he notices Cantor; Nucky tells him the situation is serious. Eli tells Nucky not to be insolent and reminds him that Jimmy created the problem. Van Alden returns to the hospital with a group of men following him. He presents a piece of headed paper to Halloran claiming that it gives him custody of Simon. Halloran goes to make a phone call while Van Alden has Simon carried down to his car. Sebso complains about the risk of Van Alden using a falsified document. Van Alden gives the men cash; they are destitute and go straight to buy food. Sebso asks where they are going and Van Alden says they will take Simon to New York because he is one of Arnold Rothstein’s men. Jimmy playfully chases Tommy along the boardwalk. Tommy runs into Dittrich’s photography and Jimmy follows him. The owner, Robert Dittrich, warmly greets Tommy, picking him up. Jimmy asks for Dittrich’s name and when Mary Dittrich realises who Jimmy is, she introduces herself. Mary calls Tommy photogenic and Robert says they are fond of both Tommy and Jimmy’s wife. Jimmy points out that he is not actually married to Angela, yet. Dittrich congratulates Jimmy on the engagement and Jimmy explains the delay by mentioning his war service. Dittrich calls the war thrilling and mentions wishing he had fought. Mary comments on the loveliness of Paris and Jimmy says he did not have time for sightseeing. Jimmy urges Tommy to leave and Tommy initially refuses. Dittrich lifts him to the door and asks Jimmy to pass on their best wishes to Angela. As they drive North Van Alden has Sebso check Simon’s pulse – it is weak. Van Alden aims to get Simon to Bellevue in just over four hours but Sebso is doubtful Simon will survive that long. Van Alden instructs Sebso to keep Simon awake by slapping him and Sebso complies to no avail. They enter Raritan, New Jersey and resolve to find a doctor. Van Alden and Sebso burst into the offices of a dentist, Dr Lissender, as he is treating a small boy. They carry Simon into the room and demand that the dentist revive him. Lissender sees that Simon is dying but offers to give cocaine (which he keeps as an anaesthetic) when Van Alden is insistent. He gives an injection into the only site he knows – the gums. Simon does not respond to the first dose and Van Alden impatiently instructs Lissender to give more. After a second injection Simon awakens. He speaks Yiddish in response to questioning and while Van Alden does not understand the boy’s mother, Mrs Fishbaum, is shocked. Van Alden forces her to translate and finds that he was being insulted. Sebso, also a Yiddish speaker, chimes in with a minor correction. Van Alden sits next to Simon and asks where he wants to die. Van Alden plunges his hand into the shotgun wound and Simon screams in agony; Lissender is horrified. Simon admits that there were two young men and that one was named Jimmy. Van Alden describes Jimmy Darmody and Simon confirms the identification moments before his death. Van Alden recites a passage from Revelations. Sebso points out that Simon was probably Jewish but Van Alden continues as Halloran and more deputies arrive. After completing his prayer Van Alden tells Halloran that Simon is all theirs. Charlie Luciano watches Rothstein play poker. Rothstein is left with only one opponent in the hand, Buck, and asks for Luciano’s assessment. Luciano checks Rothstein’s hand before saying it depends on the other player’s hand. Rothstein asks what Luciano thinks Buck has and Luciano says he is not psychic. Rothstein observes that the pot is full and asks Buck to estimate the amount; Buck’s guess is simply “plenty”. Rothstein states that the exact amount bet so far is $22,500; this is confirmed by the Dealer. Rothstein asks Buck how much mining equipment he would need to sell to earn as much as that and Buck’s answer is vague again. Rothstein raises the bet $5000 and Buck folds, admitting he was bluffing. To Buck’s annoyance Rothstein shows his cards and says he was bluffing too. Rothstein suggests a break and another player jokes that they have only been going for 14 hours. Luciano asks Rothstein why he was summoned and Rothstein relays the news of Simon’s discovery in the woods and subsequent death. Luciano helps Rothstein to change his collar and offers condolences. Rothstein has learned that Jimmy was one of two shooters involved in the hijacking and orders Luciano to find out the name of the other shooter from Jimmy and then kill them both. Gillian Darmody visits boardwalk fortune teller Lady Jean. Her fortune begins with a dark and dangerous man but is interrupted by Nucky’s arrival. Nucky is impatient and Gillian asks Lady Jean for a few minutes of privacy. Nucky complains that Gillian could have come to him; she explains that she did not want to see Jimmy. Nucky asks what he can do for her and she tells him he needs to honour their agreement. Nucky claims Jimmy is fine and Gillian refutes the assertion, citing his theft of the necklace he gave her and rumours she has heard. Nucky calls Jimmy’s problems a rough patch and says that the war must have been difficult for him. Gillian remarks that Jimmy should have stayed in college and Nucky reminds her that Jimmy ignored his advice to do so. Nucky asks if he should have forced Jimmy to stay and Gillian tells him she thought he was capable of anything. Nucky says he is not God and she replies “Now you tell me.” Gillian leaves the shop. Mickey Doyle is led into a diner in heavy rain by a teenage boy. He is met inside by Philadelphia criminals Leo and Ignacious D'Alessio. The boy is their younger brother Pius. Pius reports that Mickey was waiting outside and Mickey claims that he was given the wrong address. Leo jokingly asks if it is raining and Mickey responds that he almost drowned, amusing Ignacious. Mickey pours himself a drink and thanks the brothers for bailing him out. Mickey asks where they are staying and finds out they are in a flop house on Baltic Avenue. Leo claims the sea air is good for Ignacious’ respiratory problem but Ignacious admits the real reason they had to leave Philadelphia was his fifteen outstanding arrest warrants. Mickey asks Ignacious if he has a lawyer, mistakenly using the wrong name. Pius corrects him and calls him a Polack. Mickey points out that he has changed his name. Leo sends Pius to check on the car and Ignacious reminds Mickey of his name. Mickey jokes about the size of Italian families and Leo says there are 9 brothers. Ignacious interjects that their father loves their mother very much and places a pistol on the table. Mickey complains about Nucky giving “their operation” to Chalky White and Leo objects; pointing out that he loaned Mickey money with interest and Ignacious says that they are not partners. Mickey claims he thought they wanted an opportunity and that he needs a business to be able to pay them back. Leo calls this Mickey’s problem. Back at home Jimmy again flicks through the photograph album produced by Dittrich. Suspicious, he pauses on a picture of Angela holding her hair back with bare shoulders. At La Belle Femme, Madame Jeunet tells Margaret that they have an important customer and gives her a selection of items to take through to the dressing room. Inside, she is met by an impatient Lucy. Lucy asks Margaret to undress her before recognising Margaret. Margaret introduces herself; Lucy is unimpressed and gives Margaret instructions to take a cloak to the tailors. Posing nude Lucy demands a “step-in” and is annoyed when Margaret does not recognise the item she means. Pointing it out, Lucy then demands that Margaret bend down to help her into the negligee. Lucy asks Margaret’s opinion; she calls the garment flattering. Lucy reveals that she heard Nucky making the phone call to get Margaret the job. Margaret calls Nucky kind and Lucy subtly insults Margaret by saying that Nucky is susceptible to charity cases. At the post office Van Alden calls Supervisor Elliot. As Van Alden holds the line Sebso reads out a post card; Van Alden reprimands him for going through private correspondence. Elliot answers and asks where they are; Van Alden explains that they are working out of the post office as it is the only federal building in Atlantic City. Van Alden reports Simon’s dying admission regarding Jimmy. Given Jimmy’s role as Nucky Thompson’s driver and Nucky’s brother’s position as the Sheriff, Van Alden wants permission to arrest Jimmy for murder personally. Elliot instructs Van Alden to wait until he has asked for clearance from Bodine (meaning Joseph Lamb Bodine the US Attorney for the District of New Jersey). Elliot tells Van Alden to go home, see his wife, and rest for a few days but Van Alden insists on staying in Atlantic City. Elliot orders Van Alden to go home and then congratulates him on his work. At the Ritz Carlton Eddie announces that Jimmy has arrived. Nucky offers Jimmy a seat next to Eli and relays the bad news of Jimmy’s identification by Simon. Jimmy is incredulous until Eli and Nucky suggest that Al Capone might have used Jimmy’s name during the hijacking. Nucky regretfully relays his great expectations of Jimmy by recalling taking Jimmy to see President Taft give a campaign speech. Jimmy asked Nucky what it took to become president and Nucky advised study and hard work. Jimmy was surprised it took so little. Nucky compares Jimmy to Ragged Dick, a character from a series of books by Horatio Alger, Jr. who rises from humble beginnings to respectability, and says he did everything right in his youth. Jimmy offers to do anything and Nucky tells him he must leave Atlantic City. Jimmy asks where he will go and Eli coolly interjects that California is nice and that Charlie Chaplin might need a comic foil. Jimmy worries about his family and Eli stands, telling Jimmy that he has eight children himself and therefore plans ahead. Jimmy faces off with Eli and asks if he is supposed to accept a lecture. Eli responds that given his way Jimmy would get more than a lecture. Nucky gives Jimmy a wad of cash for Angela and Jimmy tells Nucky he never meant to hurt him. Eli cruelly asks if Jimmy the war hero is now going to cry. Jimmy silences him with a stare and Eli instinctively puts a hand on his holster. Nucky wishes Jimmy good luck and Jimmy strides out of the room. Eli wonders if Nucky would be as understanding if he had made the same mistakes. At home Jimmy hurriedly packs a suitcase while Angela angrily begs him to tell her where he is going and why. Jimmy claims he cannot talk about it and she reminds him that he is a father. He doubts the veracity of this, referring to the photograph he noticed earlier. Tommy is distressed by the argument. Angela says the photograph was intended as a gift for Jimmy but that he did not write to her so she did not know where to send it. She believed Jimmy was dead because he was out of touch for almost two years during the war. Jimmy asks why Tommy is so friendly with the Dittrichs and if Angela had an affair, threatening to kill Robert Dittrich. Angela asks what is wrong with Jimmy and calls the Dittrichs lovely people who befriended Jimmy’s family when he left them alone. Jimmy reminds Angela that his mother was always nearby while retrieving a handgun from atop their dresser. Angela tells Jimmy that he does not understand what it was like for her while he was away and that his sudden return was also a big adjustment. She asks what he expected and he claims he wants normality. Tearful, she reminds him that they had been together for only a short while and hardly knew one another before he left. He drops the money on their table and leaves, telling Angela she knows him better now. In the livery Chalky has his team relabeling the diluted liquor. He instructs his driver, Kendall, to bring his Packard round to the front. Van Alden compliments Rose on her cooking as they eat an otherwise quiet dinner. Chalky ducks out of the livery into the rain and is halted by a scratched message on his car door. It reads “liquor kills.” His gaze tracks a rope from the car door over the yard arm of the livery sign where his driver has been hung. Nucky and Eli are called to the livery where Chalky has brought his driver’s body inside. He laments that his driver was less than twenty; Nucky calls it a tragedy. Chalky suspects a cover-up and glares at Nucky. Nucky insists that the means of the driver’s death must be concealed because it is an election year. Chalky accepts Nucky’s demands for now. Nucky lays out a cover story involving a jealous husband shooting the driver. Chalky insists on a 50% split and Nucky nods. To support the tale Eli shoots the corpse twice. On the train out of Atlantic City Jimmy’s dreams are haunted by the sounds of trench warfare. He wakes up and notices a young girl speaking German to her mother across the train. He opens a copy of Free Air by Sinclair Lewis, looks at a photograph of Tommy tucked inside the book and then stares out of the window. The conductor announces that the train is the Broadway Limited service to Chicago, Illinois. Angela carries out the Christmas tree Jimmy bought and then uses his other gift, the vacuum cleaner, to clear the dropped needles. Tommy cowers behind the door frame frightened by the vacuum's noise. At home Margaret lies awake in thought, sharing her bed with her sleeping children. Nucky walks through the lobby of the Ritz Carlton and takes the elevator up to his suite. As he turns around he notices the trail of muddy footprints that he has tracked into the building. References 1x03 "Broadway Limited" Recap